Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to large scale analysis of catastrophic weather damage. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to gathering and analyzing a large amount of geographically diverse data and estimating storm damage based on a catastrophic weather event.
Description of the Related Art
It is well known that real property can be damaged during a storm, and that the impact of a single severe weather event can damage many hundreds or thousands of real property structures. In 2012, for example, “Hurricane Sandy” struck the Eastern United States. At the time, Hurricane Sandy, also known as “Super Storm Sandy” or simply “Sandy,” was the second-costliest hurricane in United States history.
Powerful storms such as hurricanes are classified according to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) into five categories. The categories are distinguished from each other by the intensity of sustained wind. A hurricane has a sustained wind of 74 miles per hour (mph). When this wind level is reached, the storm is said to be in category one of the SSHWS or simply, “Category 1.”
TABLE 1Categories under the SSHWSOne74-95 mphTwo96-110 mphThree111-129 mphFour130-156 mphFive>=157 mph
The five categories of the SSHWS are illustrated in Table 1. At peak intensity, when the storm first reached land in Cuba, Sandy was Category 3 storm. When Sandy advanced into the area off the Northeast U.S. coast, the storm had a measured diameter of more than 1000 miles and was a Category 2 hurricane. Outside the United States, Sandy caused hundreds of deaths and billions (USD) in property damage in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. In the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated that Hurricane Sandy caused $65 billion of property damage in 24 states.
In addition to the devastating effects of wind, flooding during a major storm is another cause of death and substantial property damage. The SSHWS categories that indicate wind velocity will provide some indication of the potential for flooding, but another measure is more accurate. The U.S. National Hurricane Center produces the Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) forecast. A SLOSH forecast is a model of predicted and then measured storm surge for a particular storm.
The SLOSH model takes several inputs including central pressure of a storm, storm size (e.g., diameter of the storm), forward motion of a storm, storm track, and highest sustained winds. Area topography, orientation of relevant bodies of water, depth of water, astronomical tides, and other physical features are also taken into account. One output of the SLOSH model is a Maximum Envelope of Water (MEOW) for a relevant area being modeled, which is a forecast of an expected storm surge.
Storm surge, which leads to flooding, is created by a number of geophysical and meteorological forces. A storm surge is a rising of coastal water that inundates normally dry land. The wind fields around a central low pressure system create the conditions for a storm surge. The depth and orientation of coastal water and the topography of the coastal area also play a part.
During a hurricane, the sustained wind blowing inward and a following low pressure area above the body of water cause a dome of water to rise up and “follow” the center of the storm. Other factors such as the Earth's rotation, normal tide height, and rainfall, also play a part in how high a storm surge may rise. Storm surges can be directly measured at coastal tidal stations as the difference between a forecast tide and an observed rise of water. The maximum observed storm surge in New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy was approximately 13 feet, and the surge caused substantial property damage.
Property owners contract with insurance companies for coverage of unexpected damage to their property. The contract, which is typically called an insurance policy, sets out details of the insurance coverage for the property. If the property is damaged or destroyed, the property owner contacts the insurance company and files a claim for loss. The insurance company investigates the claim and assesses the damage. When the company determines that the damage was caused by an event covered by the insurance policy, the insurance company facilitates repairs.
Investigation of the damage claim and assessment of the damage to a covered property is performed by an insurance adjuster. These individuals may also be called insurance claims adjusters, claims specialists, claims representatives, independent claims analysts, or some other like title.
The insurance adjuster is tasked with “scoping” a claim, which involves assessing the damage value of a given incident and providing a preliminary estimate of its total cost. In a typical situation, the estimate will account for the cost of cleaning up, repairing or replacing a property structure to as-before or like-new condition. The insurance adjuster will typically travel in person to the site of the calamity, where the damage will be inspected and where factual information pertaining to the loss will be recorded. The on-site inspection involves, as the case may be, walking, crawling, and climbing around the property; interviewing property owners, residents, and others; consulting records; taking photographs, audio, and/or video recordings; taking measurements; and taking notes. One known system and method for such claim scoping is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/643,504, entitled, “INSURANCE ADJUSTER CLAIM SCOPING,” filed on Feb. 27, 2015 and now pending, incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Considering one exemplary case, a building roof is allegedly damaged in a storm. The insurance adjuster travels to the building, observes the visible roof damage, takes measurements, and records additional information about the roof such as the roof's surface material, underlayment, roof decking, structural rafters, and the like. Depending on the type and cause of the damage, the adjuster may record additional information related to venting, chimneys, skylights, and other structures. The purpose of the insurance adjuster site visit is to record sufficient information for the insurance company to validate a claim made by the insured entity and estimate the scope of the claim.
In another exemplary case, buildings, landscaping, service infrastructure, and personal property are all damaged in a storm surge after a hurricane. The insurance adjuster visits the property and measures high water marks in building structures and in other areas of the property. The adjuster may also discover and document that formerly stable ground has shifted, young landscaping has been washed away, and the stable root structure of mature foliage has been undermined. Within an individual property, the insurance adjuster may ascertain whether electrical systems, water supply and sewer lines, natural gas supply lines, and other service systems have been compromised. Turning to buildings and other such structures, the insurance adjuster may observe and document damage to building walls, foundations, driveways, patios, deck supports and deck structures, doors, windows, and even personal property. Similar to the purpose of the adjustor site visit in the case of roof damage, an objective of the insurance adjuster site visit after a hurricane is to observe and document information that an insurance company can use to verify and estimate covered property losses.
The insurance adjusting process is expensive and inherently risky. Insurance adjusters must travel to the site of each property where damage is reported and record a substantial amount of data including many measurements. The process is time-consuming, and insurance adjusters require physical skill and dexterity along with a significant amount of experience. In reconsidering even simple damage to a roof, for example, the skill, dexterity, and experience required by an insurance adjuster is plain to see. The insurance adjuster must access most or all of the roof structures in order to measure length, width, and angle (e.g., roof pitch) including many compound angles formed by peaks and valleys of intersecting faces of the roof, gables, dormers, chimneys, vents, skylights, and the like. In reconsidering damage caused by a storm surge, the insurance adjuster must be ready to face and work safely in areas of unstable ground and buildings and where immediate and latent dangers may be present. For example, the insurance adjuster may encounter natural gas leaks, live power lines, unstable piles of debris, fallen trees or trees with weakened root structures that are ready to fall, and other such dangers, all of which can be fatal if not recognized and dealt with properly. Without adequate knowledge and experience, the adjuster may also be exposed to latent dangers such as bacteria-laden fouled water, damaged and disturbed asbestos or other hazardous materials, and other perils. When a real property is damaged, safe access to the roof, foundation, crawlspace, basement, and other areas for observation and measurement may be difficult.
After a significant weather event such as a hurricane, insurance companies may deploy hundreds or thousands of insurance adjusters to the areas affected by the event. In such cases, adjusters may be tasked with reaching dozens of properties each day. The work is difficult, and it can be dangerous, and even though the adjusters are working very hard, many property owners will not see an adjuster for many days simply because of the size and scope of the damage. Reducing the time to safely observe and accurately measure the roof can make an insurance adjuster more efficient, safer, and thereby less expensive.
All of the subject matter discussed in the Background section is not necessarily prior art and should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its discussion in the Background section. Along these lines, any recognition of problems in the prior art discussed in the Background section or associated with such subject matter should not be treated as prior art unless expressly stated to be prior art. Instead, the discussion of any subject matter in the Background section should be treated as part of the inventor's approach to the particular problem, which in and of itself may also be inventive.